The Israeli response to Saturday's settler attack on the Palestinian village of Asira Al-Qibliya ranges from total support, calling the attacks "necessary" and even "healthy" to total condemnation where Israeli Minister of Defense said police should ensure attackers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The incident that precipitated the settler attack was the appearance of a Palestinian in the unsanctioned settlement outpost Shalhevet near the larger settlement of Yitzhar, south of Nablus.

The man was seen setting fire to empty homes, when a 9-year old settler boy caught him off guard. The man stabbed the boy, who sustained mild injuries, and ran towards the nearby village of Asira Al-Qibliya.

Approximately 100 settlers participated in the attack on the village that followed the incident. Ten Palestinians were injured, windows were smashed, cars overturned, chemicals sprayed and graffiti painted oh Palestinian walls.

One of the settlers who participated in the riots told the Israeli daily paper Haaretz, "It wasn't exactly our preferred way of spending the Sabbath, but it was what needed to be done."

"The response at the village was a healthy and good reflex," another settler told the paper "the absence of these reflexes would show that something was faulty."

"We, the residents of the Shalhevet neighborhood were those who called out to the men, the women and children of Yithar to go down to the village from where the terrorist came to kill us," a third settler from the bloc commented, "we initiated this and requested they do it."

"People forget that this is an enemy who wants to kill us," he concluded, but "we understand that here."

Shortly after the initial attack on the settler boy was reported, Israeli troops imposed a curfew on Asira Al-Qibliya, and searched the village. When locals inquired about the raids, they were told soldiers were looking for the Palestinian knifeman.

The pack of settlers followed the troops into the village, and began rioting. Dozens carried weapons and fired live bullets in the direction of Palestinian homes.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops fired in the air to protect the settlers from Palestinians. While Israeli media reported that Israeli troops acted like a buffer between rioting settlers and local residents.

The Israeli news agency Yedioth Ahronoth reported Israeli forces as claiming they "worked to disperse the settlers and that the weapons of two settlers were confiscated."

Parliamentary reactions to settler violence

As settlers praised the actions of rioters and soldiers did their best not to get involved, a committee put together by the Israeli Knesset warns of "anarchy" in the West Bank.

One day after discussion of a bill that would see compensation given to settlers who voluntarily leave illegal West Bank settlements, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai reported an increase in disturbances from settlers in the Palestinian territories.

In early August the Knesset announced it would "boost" the numbers of Israeli soldiers around settlements after a string of attacks near Nablus and Hebron. The day before the Israeli decision a pregnant woman and her daughter were sent to hospital when settlers threw a large stone through the windshield of their car on its way to Nablus.

This summer saw a rise in settler violence and aggression, as a stream of visiting dignitaries condemned settlement expansion. As the school year started, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon's settler evacuation-compensation bill was discussed and began to make headlines.

At the same time, however, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) released a report revealing that the population of settlers in West Bank settlement increased 39 times, while the population in Israel during the same period only doubled.

On 24 July the Israeli Ministry of Defense and civil administration approved the construction of a new settlement to begin with 20 new houses near the settlement of Maskiot in the north of the Jordan valley.

Handling violent Israeli settlers

Since earlier efforts to limit settler violence seem to have failed, in the recent session Vilnai suggested an emergency assessment be conducted. He was quoted by Israeli media as saying without making an assessment soon, "we won't know what to do with ourselves in a year's time."

The issue sparked debate among Knesset members who, on the one hand, pointed to a group of anarchist Israelis in the West Bank who do not take orders or respond to government or military control. On the other hand, a Rotem is reported to have said there are only a "small percentage" of such "hooligans" in the West Bank.

In Sunday's Knesset meeting Rotem claimed 18% of West Bank settlers would voluntarily leave their homes if offered compensation.

Knesset members seemed to be in agreement that the settlers who perpetrate violence in the West Bank should be caught and sentenced for their crimes.

A ceasefire proclaimed by Israel and several Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip will be three months old on 19 September, halfway through the agreed upon six-month schedule.

But Gazan residents see few, if any, additional benefits of the new quiet. The two largest commercial crossing points, Karni and Karem Shalom, are still closed. And the Rafah crossing is rarely opened.

Without the cement, aluminum or steel needed for construction, the Gazan economy is paralyzed. The only noticeable improvement has been a month-long increase in the food supply, but even that small upgrade is due to Ramadan festivities. And the holiday products are made in Israel, anyway.

On Monday, Israeli authorities closed three more crossing points; this time at Sufa, Nahal Oz and Erez, which have been opening and closing since 19 June. Yet again, Palestinian projectiles served as a pretext for the closures.

Hamas called on Egypt to exert pressure on Israel to adhere to the terms of the ceasefire. The movement accuses Israel of closing the crossing points in order to pressure the Gazan population to reject Hamas control.

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum asserted that the ceasefire had not achieved Palestinian expectations, as the siege was not lifted, nor new crossing points opened. He accused Israel of carrying out the ceasefire agreement according to the moods and wishes of its leaders.

"Everybody knows that we agreed on a ceasefire to eliminate Israeli pretexts [for military operations]," Barhoum said. "We wanted to give the Egyptians an opportunity (to help), while we knew from past experiences that Israel would not adhere to the ceasefire."

He noted that Palestinian factions regularly monitor Israeli breaches and report them to Egyptian authorities.

Islamic Jihad leader Khalid Al-Batsh said Monday morning that "Israel escalates operations in the Gaza Strip in order to end the ceasefire agreement, which they were never committed to."

Commenting on the Israeli defense minister's recent decision to close more Gaza Strip crossing points, Al-Batsh said the world was "about to witness a new holocaust against civilians in the Gaza Strip," in what he called an effort to "put more pressure on the population of Gaza in light of the state of disagreement between the Palestinians."

Israeli settlers near Nablus set fire to a grove of olive trees in the lands of Awarta village.

The Palestinian villagers had made an agreement with the Israeli army that they would be able to harvest their olives from lands near abutting the borders of Itamar settlement.

According to Israeli media, soldiers would not let villagers pass into the grove to put out the flames. Estimates say 12-17 acres of olive trees were destroyed, along with the harvest of at least a dozen families.

A young Palestinian was killed and another injured during clashes that erupted in the village of Tuqu south east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Palestinian medical sources affirmed that 16-year-old Hasan Mohammad Hmid was killed by a bullet wound in his chest. The bullet was fired by an Israeli soldier in the middle of the village. Twenty-year-old Abd Khalid Hmid was injured when hit in the leg by a bullet.

An ambulance with the Palestinian Red Crescent had moved Hasn to the local hospital in Bethlehem, but the boy died before arriving. Abd Khalid was taken to a local clinic where he is being treated; his condition is described as mild.

Reports say Israeli soldiers entered the village and confrontations erupted between village youth and soldiers. Clashes escalated and shots were fired.

An Israeli company commander was jailed for 14 days and stripped of command for his role in causing a pregnant Palestinian woman's baby to be delivered stillborn at the Huwwara checkpoint on Friday.

The Israeli army said the soldier violated protocol by not allowing the woman 21-year-old Nahil Abu Raja, to pass.

The husband and would-be father Mu'yed Abu Reeda, 29, a resident of the village of Qasra south of Nablus, told Ma'an that "my wife, my mother, my sister and me arrived the checkpoint which is 25 kilometers away from the village at 12 :00 midnight after my wife started to feel the labor contractions and then she bled due to labor ."

Nahil was only seven months pregnant, so the family was alarmed and went quickly towards the nearest hospital in Nablus, on the far side of the Huwwara checkpoint.

Mu'yed, who works in one of the Israeli illegal settlements in the Jordan Valley, explained that he and his wife waited for about an hour and a half at the checkpoint. The soldiers, he said, insisted on getting Nahil a special permit before allowing her to cross.

"My wife gave birth to a boy we had decided to name Zeid." However, since Zeid was two months premature, he needed special care, and died moments after his birth, still at the checkpoint.

Mu'yed described his feelings during the experience as mixed with pain, oppression, hope and wonder. The child was declared officially dead when paramedics arrived at the checkpoint one hour after his birth.

When the ambulance arrived medical workers assisted Nahil with the rest of her delivery, ensuring the afterbirth was removed and her own health stable. After paramedics operated on the woman, she, the dead child, and her husband, were permitted through the checkpoint for care in the Nablus hospital.

"On the next day," said Mu'yed "we carried our child in a cardboard box from the hospital to bury him in the graveyard of the village. On our way home through the checkpoint , the soldiers started to laugh telling each other " Do you want to see a dead child, come over here. He is there inside the box."

The Israeli army recognized the actions of the soldier who prevented the woman from passing into Nablus as illegal. He is being held in Israeli custody.

Israeli media source said that the Israeli army opened an investigation in the case and decided to dismiss the officer responsible of the checkpoint. Other Israeli sources said that the Israeli military court decide to detain the Israeli officer for 28 days and to transfer him to another military post.

Dozens of Palestinian and international protesters were asphyxiated when Israeli troops used tear gas against a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin on Friday.

The demonstrators attempted to hold the Friday Muslim prayer on land that would be de facto annexed to Israel by the construction of the barrier.

A'hed Al- Khwajah, coordinator of the anti-wall Popular Committee in Ni'lin said in a statement that "During the Friday prayers dozens of Israeli settlers who were carrying the Israeli flags and loudspeakers and accompanied by the Israeli soldiers, forced their way into the prayer session and disturbed the Sheikh who was giving the Friday sermon."

A Belgian peace delegation and a number of Palestinian youths were affected by the teargas.

Later that afternoon, a memorial was held for the 15 Palestinians, including two from Ni'lin, who have been killed by Israeli forces while protesting the Israeli wall.

On the 29 August, 10-year old Ahmed Mousa was shot in the head at close range by Israeli border police in Ni'lin after having removed some barbed wire around the construction site. He was killed instantly.

Seventeen-year-old Yousef Amira was then shot twice in the head with rubber-coated steel bullets at Ahmed's funeral the following day. He was that day declared brain-dead and died on 4 August.

Ibrahim An-Najjar, a leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, warned Friday morning that the transportation minister's comments are evidence of an upcoming "wave of assassinations and aggression" against Palestinians.

An-Najjar said that the former defense minister's comments were in reference to upcoming Kadima Party elections in Israel, in which Mofaz will face Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

"Israeli leaders are competing for our blood and all Palestinian parties should unite to prepare for the next wave of Israeli violence," An-Najjar told Ma'an on Friday.

But An-Najjar warned that resistance movements would never permit Israel to use Palestinians as political fodder. "The Palestinian resistance will put down all Israeli goals," he said. The leader insisted that Israel remains weak, citing as evidence Hizbullah's victory in the July 2006 war in Lebanon.

But he feared projects initiated by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could weaken the Palestinian cause, accusing the Palestinian Authority of making "poor agreements with Israeli leaders."

An-Najjar called on Palestinian factions to regroup in light of Israeli attempts to confiscate West Bank land and turn Jerusalem into an exclusively Jewish capital.

Israeli forces invaded the West Bank city of Bethlehem and four surrounding villages on Thursday night and Friday morning, seizing two Palestinians, while a third was detained at a military checkpoint.

Israeli troops stormed the village of Tuqu, south of Bethlehem, before midnight and raided several houses, including those belonging to Khaled Khalil Sabah and Salem Abu Mefreh, the director of the Boy's School in the village. The soldiers threatened to demolish the school if the students threw stones at Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces seized 18-year-old Umar Ismail Mahmoud Sabah.

In the village of Beit Sahour, east of Bethlehem, Israeli troops seized 27-year-old Rami Mahmoud Hussein Shoaiba, witnesses said. His whereabouts is not known.

Separately, Palestinian security sources reported that Israeli troops arrested Idris Munther Moussa Sabah, a Bethlehem resident, while he was attempting to cross the "Container" checkpoint, which separates Bethlehem from the northern West Bank.

Israeli forces also stormed the villages of Husan and Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, raiding houses. No one was arrested in either village.

Israeli gunboats opened fire on a Palestinian fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday night, causing 70,000 dollars of damage but no injuries, fishermen in Gaza said on Thursday.

Murad Al-Hessi, the boat's owner, said the eight people on board the boat were rescued by nearby fishing vessels.

The head of the fishermen's professional association, Muhammad Al-Assi, held a press conference in front of the destroyed boat, which is now docked in Gaza, to condemn the Israeli attack.

Al-Assi urged Arab states in particular to wake up to the severe conditions faced by Gazan fishermen. He said that Israel's blockade of Gaza has harmed the fishing industry. In addition to the physical danger posed by the Israeli navy, Gazan fishermen lack adequate fuel and other supplies do to the closure of Gaza's borders.

Israeli forces seized two Palestinians during a dawn raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and the nearby town of Anbata.

Palestinian security sources said that Israeli troops forces their way into a number of private homes, ultimately detaining 21 year-old Muhammad Omar Ashqar from Tulkarem and 20-year-old Ghassan Abu Rayya from Anabta.

Israeli forces withdrew in the early morning. It is not known where Ashqar and Abu Rayya are being held.

Israeli forces killed 25-year-old Walid Freitikh and arrested two others during a wide scale military incursion in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday evening.

Some 30 Israeli military vehicles invaded the Ras Al-Ayn neighborhood of Nablus as the evening call to prayer went out over the minarets. Israeli troops surrounded Freitikh's house, near the Salah Ad-Din Mosque, before opening fire at him. He was shot in the feet several times and bled to death before ambulances could reach the area. His body was taken to Rafidia Hospital in the west of Nablus, Palestinian medical sources said.

Meanwhile Palestinian security sources reported that Israeli forces seized two young Palestinian men. One, 22-year-old Jafar Ja'ara, affiliated to the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, was arrested although he received partial amnesty from Israel. The other, Ra'if Sha'ban, was released by Israel just two weeks ago along with about 200 other Palestinian prisoners.

Violent clashes have erupted between the invading forces and groups of stone-throwing young men in several parts of the Ras Al-Ayn neighborhood. Israeli troops are blocking streets, preventing ambulances from reaching the scene of the violence. The confrontations were ongoing at the time of writing.

The Gaza Strip's only pharmaceutical factory is shutting down due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory, said Marwan Al-Astal chairman of board of directors of Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat factories on Wednesday.

Al-Astal said that the factory would suspend operations on Tuesday because is Israelis not allowing sufficient materials into the Gaza Strip to continue operations.

Al-Astal told Ma'an, "The factory operated at 20% for a year, then 10% and now it produces nothing." The facility used to produce five varieties of medicine.

The closure is will worsen a shortage of medicines and medical supplies in Gaza resulting also from the blockade. By one count, 250 Palestinians have died either because hospitals were not equipped or because they were not allowed to leave the Strip for treatment.

Israel sealed the Gaza Strip in June 2007, imposing a closure that devastated the Gazan economy and caused shortages of vital supplies of food, fuel, medicine, and raw materials. Hundreds of thousands lost their jobs due to the shutdown of industries including manufacturing and construction.

Dozens choke on tear gas and are hit with rubber-coated metal bullets as protesters mark fifth anniversary of the Ni'lin anit-wall campaign on Monday afternoon.

Hundreds turned out for the anniversary march, and the village declared a commercial strike for two hours during the march.

Meeting in the village center, marchers headed to lands confiscated by Israel in order to build the separation wall, which will permanently cut of residents from their agricultural lands. Protesters attempted to halt the construction of the wall, by thwarting bulldozers busy uprooting trees in Palestinian fields.

By blocking the path of the bulldozers, protesters were able to halt construction for a few hours, amidst streams of tear gas bombs and rubber bullets, which wounded several protesters.

The march also marked the International Day to Oppose Ignorance, and protesters chanted slogans and carried banners illustrating how the separation wall deprives tens of thousands of students from reaching schools, or from continuing their studies altogether.

Coordinator of the Higher Committee to resist the wall Ahed Al-Khawaja affirmed that residents of Ni'lin would not give in to a power trying to deprive children, families and farmers from accessing their lands, their educations and their rights.

On the first anniversary of the decision of the Israeli Supreme court that the separation wall running through the village of Bil'in was illegal, residents and internationals gathered at the site of the ongoing construction for the wall for a protest.

The now weekly protests consistently call for an end to the construction of the separation wall on village lands. On Friday the protesters marched to where construction workers and troops installed razor wire to block the protest.

As marchers attempted to move the wire to march to the site of the wall, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and sound bombs at the group. Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation and an Italian woman was hit with a canister of tear gas.

When demonstrators reached the gate in the separation wall and tried to remove it, soldiers sprayed the group with water containing blue dye.

Two members of the Islamic Resistance Movement affiliated with Hamas were detained on Friday night, and several homes were raised near Bethlehem.

Security sources reported to Ma'an that an Israeli military force stormed Bethlehem and overran the town and arrested Hamas activists, including 26-year-olds Hamza Mohammed Al-Sheikh and Mohammed Ali Rabah Al-Sheikh. The men were taken to an unknown location.

The sources added that the Israeli army raided the Ad-Duheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem and arrested Adel 'Attia Ramadan, then released him after several hours of investigations while Israeli forces raided his home.

The home of Magdi Abed Mustafa Sobeh in the Al-Balou' area in Bethlehem was also raided though no arrests were made.

Hundreds of citizens crowded at the Rachel's Tomb (Gilo) checkpoint early Friday morning seeking entry into Jerusalem in order to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

The checkpoint, north of Bethlehem, is the official crossing for Palestinians between the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli authorities imposed severe restrictions on movement, and deployed thousands of policemen and army soldiers around the Old City of Jerusalem, where IDs and permits were checked at all of the entrance points to the area. Several roads were closed leading to the Old City, and many had to disembark from busses and park cars in order to walk to the site.

Israeli authorities said that men under the age of 45 were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. Men between 45-50 had to obtain a permit in order to enter the city, and men over the age of 50 could enter without a permit.

For women, they said, those under the age of 35 are forbidden from entering Jerusalem, and those between 35-45 can apply for a permit. Those over 45 can enter the city without a permit.

The Rachel's Tomb checkpoint was not the only place where restrictions were imposed, however. Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that Israeli forces had equally strict procedures in place at the Qalandiya checkpoint, where residents from the Ramallah and northern West Bank areas pass through to Jerusalem.

Hundreds of soldiers and policemen were sent out near the checkpoint and prevented cars from approaching. Palestinians were told to walk to the area, and take busses from the other end fo the checkpoint into Jerusalem.

Eyewitnesses added that intensive inspections were conducted on almost all Palestinians, and that even those holding Jerusalem identity cards (covered with blue instead of green), which usually allow freer movement between the West Bank and Jerusalem, were subjected to searches.

Dozens of peace activists arrived at Qalandiya, in order to observe the searches and paper checking of Israeli soldiers, and to stand in solidarity with Palestinians as they waited for hours to pass through.

Israeli police announced late on Wednesday that Muslims hoping to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday will not be able to drive or take public transportation directly to the moqsue.

Police plan to cordon off the area near the mosque, and said that parking would be provided in the As-Suwana neighborhood.

In order to attend prayer at the iconic mosque, Palestinians must meet certain criteria. Married men between the ages 45-50 and married women between the ages of 30-45 who have received permission from the Civil Administration will be allow.

Men over the age of 50 and women over the age of 45 will be allowed without a special permit, the Israeli government says.

In addition, Wasim Akram Jaber, a Palestinian man was hospitalized after he was pelted with stones thrown by settlers from the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron.

Israeli forces also raided the town of Beit Awwa, near Hebron, and seized several stolen cars.

Bethlehem

In the Bethlehem area, security sources said that ten military vehicles entered the village of Beit Ta'mir. In the village they raided four houses with the help of dogs. Israeli troops forced residents into the street including 27-year-old Ra'ed Hassan Mahmoud Danoun a Fatah affiliate, 40-year-old Sulaiman Hassan Danoun a DFLP affiliate, 45-year-old Adel Hassan Danoun, a Fatah affiliate and Hussein Danoun, a Hamas affiliate. No arrests were reported in Beit Ta'mir

Security sources added that five military vehicles stormed town of Tuqu, to the east of Bethlehem, and detained 39-year-old Kamal Abdallah Al-Badan, a Hamas member, after damaging his house.

The Israeli forces also stormed Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, and detained 35-year-old Imad Ayyad, a Hamas affiliate.

Nablus

Five Palestinians were arrested during a dawn incursion in the Nablus area in the northern West Bank, including two brothers from the village of Kafr Qalil.

Israeli forces on Wednesday morning ransacked the home of an elderly Palestinian man, 80-year-old Muhammad Abu Rayyan, in the West Bank town of Halhul, near the city of Hebron.

According to a family member, Bilal Abu Rayyan, Israeli soldiers stole jewelry and cash worth estimated at 3000 Jordanian Dinars (4300 US dollars) while searching the house. He added that Israeli forces damaged parts of the family's blacksmith workshop near the house before leaving. Witnesses said the interior of the house was largely destroyed.

Israeli police officers opened fire at a Palestinian who reportedly attempted to steal a construction vehicle near the Israeli town of Modi'in on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Israeli media, the driver of the tractor was arrested after the run-away bulldozer sparked fears of a violent attack. An Israeli police spokeswoman said the incident was "not terror-related."

No one was injured.

Three people were killed on 1 July when a construction worker drove a bulldozer off a construction site in Jerusalem. Another bulldozer driver was shot dead on July 22 in what appeared to be another attack in Jerusalem.

Israeli forces have adopted a practice of "reckless firing" of rubber-coated steel bullets killing two Palestinians and injuring many more since the beginning of the year, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem said on Monday.

B'Tselem is urging the Israeli attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, to prosecute soldiers and police officers who violate military firing regulations in order to stop "trigger-happy" troops.

Early on Monday morning, Awwad Sadeq Sror, a mentally disabled father of four from the West Bank village of Ni'lin, was severely injured when a soldier fired a cylinder containing three rubber-coated steel bullets at him at close range. B'Tselem's initial investigation indicates that two bullets penetrated his skull and a third struck him in the chest.

A wave of similar cases, B'Tselem says," raises the grave suspicion that soldiers and Border Police officers systematically breach the Open-Fire Regulations in their use of rubber-coated bullets, often with the knowledge and approval of officers."

The request included a list of 19 cases B'Tselem has investigated in which soldiers and police officers fired rubber-coated bullets from potentially lethal short ranges, although the forces were not in a life-threatening situation. The organization also reported cases in which children were shot and in which Israeli forces fired with the intention of wounding and punishing Palestinians.

In July, a videotape released by the organization showed an Israeli soldier shooting a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee, also in Ni'lin. The village has made headlines for its defiant protests against the construction of the Israeli separation wall, which will likely isolate much of the village's land on the western side of the barrier.

Two Gazan fishermen were injured when Israeli naval vessels fired on Palestinian fishing boats on Monday.

Palestinian medical sources told Ma'an that 32-year-old Husam Sultan was hit in the head with shrapnel. His wounds were described as serious. Ninteen-year-old Muhammad Sultan was lacerated by shrapnel in various places on his body.

The Israeli navy opened fire at the fishermen off the Gaza shore near the former site of the Israeli settlement Dugeit, west of the Palestinian town of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

This Israeli attack is an apparent violation of the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip which went into effect on 19 June. The violation came on the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Another Israeli naval assault was reported earlier in the day in the day by international human rights activists accompanying Palestinian fishermen.

The Free Gaza movement reported live bullets fired near Gaza City, where five internationals were accompanying fishing boats during daily work in Gaza territorial waters. The group said the boats were "several miles offshore" when Israeli ships opened fire.

Activists from the Free Gaza boats who have remained in the Strip joined Gazan fishermen Monday morning as they launched their boats in order to monitor Israeli Naval aggressions.

There have been repeated reports of warning shots, arrests and boat shadowing by the Israeli navy patrolling Gazan waters.

Israel enforces a "Fishing Limit" that is 6 nautical miles (11.1 km) from the Gaza shore. The international waters boundary and the 1996 Oslo accords boundary both state that Gaza waters extend 20 nautical miles from the Gaza coast, and the 2002 Bertini agreement (signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority) has the boundary lying 12 nautical miles or 22.2 km from the Gaza coast. The current "Fishing Limit" has been imposed by the Israeli navy since October 2006.

The Israeli navy began limiting traffic going in or coming out if the Gaza Strip starting in the mid-1990s when the Oslo accords were signed. All traffic was halted since 2007, when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip.

The Free Gaza activists will be joined by others from the International Solidarity movement in Gaza, who will record and document all instances of Israeli naval aggression and harassment.

The activists announced Monday that they would be present on any fishing boat at any time along the entire Gaza coast from Monday morning onwards. They said that they hoped the presence of internationals would deter further Israeli aggression.

The fishing industry employs some 3,000 individuals, who rely on traveling deep enough into the Mediterranean to catch sardine as they migrate from the Nile delta northwards every spring.

The Free Gaza movement has focused its efforts this year on exposing and halting what they call the illegal Israeli control of Gazan coastal waters. Since Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, and claims not to be an occupying force in the area, the movement attests that Gazans should have control over their own ports.

The movement successfully landed two boats in the closed Gaza port on Saturday 23 August. Israeli army and government officials had initially planned on preventing the ships from landing, but made a last minute decision to allow them to pass. The government later called the event a "one-time" deal, and promised it would not allow other ships through into Gaza.

When all but 9 of the Free Gaza activists left the Gaza port for Cyprus in Thursday 28 August, they brought with them seven Palestinians, who for the first time in years did not have to ask Israeli or Egyptian permission to leave the Strip. The Palestinian government in Gaza stamped the passports and travel documents of those leaving, who arrived in Cyprus the following day by ship.

Ayed Sadeq Abu Srour was shot in the head and chest at close range as Israeli soldiers detained the 40-year-old's brother on Monday morning in the village of Ni'lin.

Ayed lost one of his eyes and is in hospital, he is the father of four children.

Secretary General of Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Al-Barghouthi said Israeli forces blew-up the entranceway of Srour's home, and threw gas and sound bombs into the resulting hole before raiding the house and detaining Aqel Abu Srour.

Aqel was pushed to the ground and handcuffed, while Ayed -his brother- was shot at close range.

"Israeli practices," Said Al-Barghouthi, "aim at breaking the popular struggle in Ni'lin," and seek to make an example of the efforts of the village residents. He condemned the "brutal" and "ugly" methods chosen to put down peaceful resistance, and affirmed that this will not stop the anti-wall campaigns in Ni'lin, Bil'in, Al-Ma'sara or "any other place across Palestine."

In his statement sent to Ma'an, Al-Barghouthi recalled that "this Israeli crime is not first of its kind," and reminded all of the shooting of Ashraf Abu Rahmah two months ago at close range with his hands cuffed and eyes masked.

Al-Barghouthi called for the "prosecution of Israeli soldiers and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak who is personally responsible for such crimes in front of war crimes tribunals."

Three children and one adult were injured with live bullets as they participated in a non-violent demonstration against the illegal construction of the Israeli separation wall on village lands.

Ni'lin is a village located west of the city of Ramallah, whose lands have been cut off residents by the construction of the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. The people of Ni'lin and the Popular Committee Against the Wall have organized weekly and ongoing demonstrations in protest.

Each week locals, Israeli and international activists walk towards the confiscated lands on the far side of the Israeli construction site for the wall, in order to tend to crops from which some earn their livelihoods.

On Sunday, dozens of foreign supporters and activists participated and marched alongside Palestinians as they headed toward three different construction areas along the planned route of the Israeli separation wall. The group aimed at reaching the bulldozers digging up the agricultural fields of the village.

Israeli forces crowded and stormed the town to stop the protest. Soldiers fired gas and sound bombs along with metal bullets at protestors. The repressive methods eventually turned into clashes between the protesters and the Israeli troops.

Clashes lasted late into the afternoon, and dozens choked on tear gas. Four locals, three of them children, were injured by bullets.

Coordinator of Ni'lin committee against the wall Ahed Al-Khawajah confirmed that residents of Ni'lin have been struggling for about four months to halt construction of the separation wall. He said that resistance to Israeli atrocities will continue during Ramadan, which began 1 September.